Optimal installation folder structure for a Windows application

Question

I created the installation package using Wix, which installs the Windows service on the user's machine. Files are currently installed on [% ProgramFiles% \ APLICATIONNAME].

Is this the future way to structure the installation folder? Should I install on [% ProgramFiles% \ APLICATIONNAME \ VERSION_NUMBER] instead?

Any recommendations are welcome.

Thanks,

Arnie

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Update:

You cannot support lateral installation of different versions.

Answer 1

Folders with specific versions are not suitable. What you need to do is make sure that all subsequent installers are properly updated compared to previous versions, so that different folders are not required.

You might want to do something like ProgFiles \ App 1.0 using the major and minor version numbers if you want to allow the installation of different versions side by side. But with all this, ultimately it should be up to the user where the installed files are installed.

Answer 2

As a side note, if you save application data in the% AppData% folder registry, then these are reasonable places to use names with version names,

eg. %AppData%\Manufacturer\Application\1.0 and HKCU\Manufacturer\Product\1.0 or something else.

We use this with a folder for each major version, so if we decide to change the registry structure, process data file formats, etc., we only need to ensure compatibility between minor versions. Major releases can use a separate procedure to help the user transition from version 2.x to 3.x.

Answer 3

If lateral installation of different versions is not supported, I think that [% ProgramFiles% \ APLICATIONNAME] is good enough. However, I personally prefer [% ProgramFiles% \ COMPANYNAME \ APLICATIONNAME].